Vratislav Holub When Apple presented the new macOS 2022 Ventura operating system at the WWDC 13 developer conference, it devoted part of its presentation to the improved Metal 3 graphics API. Apple is behind its development. He presented the new version as a salvation for gaming on Macs, which quite frankly made many Apple fans laugh. Gaming and macOS don't quite go together, and it will take a long time to overcome this long-held stereotype. If at all.
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However, the new version of the Metal 3 graphics API brings with it one more interesting novelty. We are talking about MetalFX. This is an apple technology used for upscaling, the task of which is to draw a picture in a lower resolution to a higher resolution, thanks to which it directly participates in the resulting image quality without having to fully render it. In fact, this is a great innovation that could bring us a number of interesting creations in the future. So let's briefly summarize what MetalFX is actually for and how it can help developers.
How MetalFX works
As we mentioned above, MetalFX technology is used for so-called image upscaling, primarily in the area of video games. Its goal is to save performance and thus provide the user with a faster game without losing its quality. The attached picture below explains it quite simply. As you know, if the game is not running at its best and for example crashes, the solution can be to reduce the resolution, which may not render as many details. Unfortunately, the quality also decreases with this. Upscaling tries to build on a very similar principle. Basically, it renders the image in low resolution and "computes" the rest, thanks to which it provides a full-fledged experience, but saves even half of the available performance.
Upscaling as such is not groundbreaking. Nvidia or AMD graphics cards also use their own technologies and achieve exactly the same thing. Of course, this may not only apply to games, but in some cases also to applications. It can be very briefly summarized that MetalFX is used to improve the image without unnecessary power consumption.
MetalFX in practice
In addition, we recently saw the arrival of the first AAA title that runs on the Metal graphics API and supports MetalFX technology. Macs with Apple Silicon chips, i.e. the macOS operating system, received a port of the popular game Resident Evil Village, which was originally intended for today's consoles (Xbox Series X and Playstation 5). The game arrived in the Mac App Store at the end of October and almost immediately received positive reviews among Apple users.
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Apple growers were quite cautious and did not expect any miracles from this port. The following discovery was all the more pleasant. It is obvious from this title that Metal is actually quite a functional and capable graphics API. The MetalFX technology also received a positive evaluation in player reviews. Upscaling achieves comparable qualities of native resolution.
Potential for the future
At the same time, the question is how developers will continue to deal with these technologies. As we already mentioned in the beginning, Macy doesn't really understand gaming, and Apple fans tend to overlook it as a platform. In the end, it makes sense. All gamers use either a PC (Windows) or a game console, while Macs are not thought of for playing video games. Although the new models with Apple Silicon chips already have the necessary performance and technologies, this does not mean that we will see the arrival of high-quality and optimized games.
This is still a small market, which may not be profitable for game developers. The whole situation can therefore be viewed from two angles. Although the potential is there, it depends on the decisions of the aforementioned developers.
